Before I forget there are two "old tricks" for securing a tripod I've seen. first is hang a weight from the inside or your tripod, underneath your head, so it hangs directly below your tripod head but in between the legs of the tripod. any kind of weight - I have often seen one of those portbale, soft sided water bags you use for camping.

The idea is to have the bottom of the weight - whatever you use - just barely touch the ground so it does not swing or sway, but still puts weight on the tripod and keeps it centred. Works on everything from a digital SLR and small camera tracker to a large step up. I used ot have a 5 inch F12 refractor for my Losmandy CP100 mount many moons ago.

The other thing to do, it varies, say you are shooting with your tripod on grass. Get some cheap, larger, plastic camping stakes. Those big ones you see at dollar stores work good. Stake them in the ground near the foot of each tripod leg.

it is really easy to accidently bump, even every so slightly that you do not notice it, into the leg of your tripod and again - just one mm or one 1/16th of an inch can mess up your polar alignment. Having those big stakes in the ground prevents you from doing that - most of the time.